Ferox Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Time to tackle the big guy. This model is why I bought the Legion boxed set in the first place, and I'm glad I did. On the other hand, it's going to be a challenge. Here's what comes out of the box: (No, the shoulder spines aren't interchangeable. The sprues are helpfully labeled "left" and "right".) As is my wont, I'll be pinning everything. The Carnivean is a huge chunk of white metal, most of it up high, so it'll need the support. Fortunately, Dan Smith has written an excellent walkthrough of the build process. I'll be using 1/16" brass rod for most of the pins, which is likely to be overkill -- that is, almost enough. I am a bit concerned about how I'm going to hold the guy while painting him. Right now my plan is to insert long-ish paperclip-wire pins into the three "standing" legs, then drill corresponding holes in one of the oak dowel pieces I use as a painting support and superglue them to the oak. When I finish, I'll cut off the pins near the dowel, insert them into the base, and bend them under for extra mechanical support. Anyway, so far today I've cleaned up the castings and set them in warm soapy water to soak before I glue them. So far, I'm impressed by Privateer's castings: they're almost entirely free of mould lines (though I did find one doozy of a slip line on the left claw; filing it down took off some of the fine detail... dammit) or flash. The surface is a bit rough, but I can fix that with sealer after I assemble and prime the model. Onward! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haldir Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Looks like a fun project. Keep us updated!! RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ddot Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Looks like a fun project... RM you've obviously never put a Carni together. pITA, though it has nothing on the Skorne Cyclops Brute. Carnis can be a bit of a challenge to put together. Ferox is definiely doing the right thing by pinning. Having done three of these monstrosities, it's not as easy as it looks, but definiely worth it- one of min took a 3 ft drop and survived intact. Based on your Shredders, it should look pretty cool if you keep the same color scheme, or even a variation like a slightly darker blue on the skin. (on that, there's a bit more smooth skin than you might expect at this stage. Layering and blending will go a long way towards awesomeness.) +1 on can't wait Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferox Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Carnis can be a bit of a challenge to put together. Ferox is definiely doing the right thing by pinning. Trust me, I'd weld this thing if I had the skills. When something breaks off of one of my minis, I take it as a personal offence... and pin with thicker wire next time. Based on your Shredders, it should look pretty cool if you keep the same color scheme, or even a variation like a slightly darker blue on the skin. (on that, there's a bit more smooth skin than you might expect at this stage. Layering and blending will go a long way towards awesomeness.) Thanks! I tried a few colour tricks on the shredders that I expect will have more of an impact on the carni. Either way, painting all that carapace is going to be another learning experience. Should have pins drilled and some of the major joints in place this evening. Update: Okay, I underestimated the task. Lots of pinning to be done, and me without power tools. The great thing about the Carni is that there's so much there there; I can sink quarter-inch-deep holes into the legs and not worry about coming out the other side. On the other hand, well, this is going to take at least five 1/16" pins and ten paperclip pins. I sure would like to drill all the pin holes before I start to glue anything. Still and all, half-inch-long 1/16" brass rod pins at the major load-bearing joints makes me feel a lot better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leader of the Rats Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Tip: Drill a hole in one piece then attach a small amount of Blue Tack to the other piece. Then fit the pieces together and gently pull them apart. The Blue Tack piece will show you exactly where to drill the hole to have a perfect fit of the pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferox Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Tip: Drill a hole in one piece then attach a small amount of Blue Tack to the other piece. Then fit the pieces together and gently pull them apart. The Blue Tack piece will show you exactly where to drill the hole to have a perfect fit of the pieces. Yep, that's a pretty handy way to do it as long as the blu-tack doesn't deform in the last step. The Carnivean has locator studs and divots on its joints, though -- laughably inadequate for actually supporting the load on each joint, but perfectly suited for locating pins. The tutorial I linked in the first post shows how it's done. I'll probably use blu-tack on the waist joint if I double-pin it, though: my problem is less with locating the holes than it is with angling them properly. A goodly chunk of blu-tack squeezed into a large-diameter pinhole should indicate angle pretty well. Thanks for the reminder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel Rabbit Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Good luck! I built two of these suckers for my 35pt. Legion army. They were a challenge, but well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferox Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Progress! I drilled all the pin holes in the lower torso and attached the legs and tail. Yes, that's my blood. (Don't ask. Note however that Carniveans have the "Blood Creation" trait....) The tail went on beautifully, and is held with a half-inch paperclip pin. The three load-bearing legs all have holes drilled for paperclips, probably closer to 3/8" depth. I'm hoping that'll be sufficient to support them during painting. The two right-side legs are held with half-inch pins of 1/16" brass rod. The left-front leg is held with paperclip wire, since it's not going to bear any more load than just itself. I have a 1/16" hole and a paperclip-sized hole for pinning the upper torso to the lower; the lighter-gauge paperclip wire should give me more flexibility if I get the angles wrong. I scored a crosshatch pattern across all the jointed surfaces, but I don't know how much of that is actually going to help as the leg joints in particular are pretty open. Well, every little bit helps. I messed up the front-right leg's pinhole in the torso: the pin in the leg is angled downward to give it more material to bite into, and the locating socket on the lower torso really wasn't cool with that. I should've opened it up a lot more to accommodate the angle I wanted to use; instead, I drilled a guide hole (which went fine), then drilled a 1/16" hole (which went straight in) and tried to clean it up with a file. My test fit worked reasonably well; my final fit, obviously, not so much. I guess the pin should do the lion's work of keeping the leg in place, and I can just fill in the gap with green-stuff, but still... I hate screwing up. Next I'll drill the upper torso, attach it to the lower, and add the arms and head. Then I get to find out whether my paperclip idea actually works, or if I'll have to base this thing before I paint it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlordgarou Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Looking good so far. Mine is still in pieces, but I have only had it since Hordes was first released. (Someday, once I finish a couple other armies, I might get around to legion. In the meantime, they sit in my pile of leaden shame.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferox Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Ow, my fingertips! I think I'll paint something today and drill out the upper torso tomorrow. And maybe buy a power drill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlordgarou Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Ow, my fingertips! I think I'll paint something today and drill out the upper torso tomorrow. And maybe buy a power drill. Pinning last night convinced me that a power drill is exactly the wrong tool for me. With a manual drill, I probably won't manage to drill a hole in my fingers. With a power drill - it's pretty much a certainty. (BTW, I hate pMorghoul.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferox Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Tip: Drill a hole in one piece then attach a small amount of Blue Tack to the other piece. Then fit the pieces together and gently pull them apart. The Blue Tack piece will show you exactly where to drill the hole to have a perfect fit of the pieces. Yep, that's a pretty handy way to do it as long as the blu-tack doesn't deform in the last step. I've tried this three damn times, and I keep screwing it up... er, ah, performing inadvertent conversions. Something about the extra volume of the blu-tack distorts the joint angles just enough to mess me up. Fortunately, I haven't done any damage I can't fix with a bit of green-stuff, and in the case of the torso joint it actually makes the model's pose a bit more dynamic. Speaking of protips: I've been using wax from a tea light candle to lubricate my pinning bits, which is a definite must (cutting oil would be better, I'm sure), and I've been drilling pilot holes for the 1/16" pins with a smaller bit. (In fact, it's too small -- I should be running a second bit between the pilot hole and the 1/16" bit, if I only had something suitable.) Also handy is that I have two pin vises and don't have to switch bits. In any case, I should be able to finish the pinning today. Update: Pin-holes are all drilled! Now the resting of the fingers and the drinking of the beer, followed by the gluing of the pins and the green-stuffing and the assembly of parts and the letting everything cure before the final combination of the subassemblies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferox Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 And... progress! Not just that, but no blood this time. I think the Carnivean wanted a blood sacrifice, and once it got it it decided to cooperate. I've built computers like that. Here's how things stand at the moment. The body is happy to stand up by itself on my workbench, but needs a bit of help in the "lightbox" -- hence the garish blue poster tack. As you can see I've done a lot of putty work on the join between the upper and lower torsos; let me just say that my #2 taper point (firm) colour shaper has earned my undying admiration. What a fantastic piece of equipment for working with soft putty. That said, I hope the not-quite-blisters on my fingertips turn into calluses before I next pin something. Ow! Here you can see the size of pins I'm using wherever I fear large bending moments, and some idea of the depths I've been drilling with my pin vise. More putty work on the right side of the quadrahip; I might go back and do something with the back right leg while I've got the putty out. I'm starting to think that I'll actually be able to finish this tomorrow. Then I wait a day for the putty to cure, wash it again (all those skin oils from my fingertips -- what, me, compulsive?), and prime it... and then I start painting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferox Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Proof of concept: The arms and head are just hanging by their pins, which explains the crazy (but oddly expressive) angle of the head. I'm not sanguine about drilling into end-grain, but it's easier to get away with it on oak than, say, pine. Overall I'm pleased that the model's relatively stable even with the extra forward weight of the arms, and it's not too awkwardly weighted to hold by the dowel and paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinoman87 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Neat. Can't wait to see paint on this bad boy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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